


KARKAT==> GET DOWN AND COVER

by soharu87



Category: Homestuck
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-07-22
Updated: 2014-04-11
Packaged: 2017-11-28 23:40:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,496
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/680192
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/soharu87/pseuds/soharu87
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU but still trolls: Karkat is a knight for the kingdom of Light, and a specific preistess...er, seer princess, got herself into trouble. sometimes, when you cant get out, the least you can do is protect her.<br/>Now with the rage kingdom on the move, the kingdoms have become tense, and ties will be challenged. No one knows what or why the rage kingdom has suddenly become active.<br/>Dedicated to covertcalligrapher from tumblr, because shes awesome. end of story.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prolouge

**Author's Note:**

  * For [covertCalligrapher](https://archiveofourown.org/users/covertCalligrapher/gifts).

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> explanation for the story

  * Rage kingdom 
    * Kurloz
    * Gamzee
    * Faygo Monsters
    * Betty Crocker
  * Heart kingdom 
    * Nepeta
    * Meulin ( 
      * Equius (Knight/Heir of Void)
      * Rufio (Theif/Rogue of Breath)
  * Space Kingdom 
    * Jane (priestess/Maid of Life) 
      * Roxy (Theif/Rogue of Void)
    * Kanaya 
      * Jade (Knight/Witch of space)
  * Light Kingdom 
    * Terezi (Seer of Mind/Preistess)
    * Rose (seer of Light/princess)
    *       * Karkat (knight/Knight of Blood)
      * Feferi (Witch/Witch of Life)
  * Time Kingdom 
    * Aradia (Princess/Maid of Time) 
      * Dave (Knight/Knight of Time)
      * Aranea (Witch/Witch of Light)
    * Damara (Princess/Witch of Time)
  * Breath Kingdom 
    * John (Prince/Heir of Breath)
    * Tavros (Prince/Page of Breath) 
      * Vriska (Theif/Theif of Light)
      * Porrim (Knight/ Maid of Space)
    * Kankri (Preist/Seer of Blood)
  * Doom Kingdom 
    * Mituna (Prince/Heir of Doom)
    * -Horuss (Famous Noble Horse breeder/knight/Page of void)
    * -Latula (Knight/Knight of Mind)
    * Sollux (Prince/Mage of Doom)
    * -Jake (Knight/Page of Hope)
  * Hope Kingdom 
    * Eridan (Prince of Hope) 
      * Dirk (Knight/ Prince of Heart)
      * Meenah (Theif/Theif of Life)
    * Cronus



* * *

-Every kingdom they are originally from chose certain people to train as knights, witches, or theives. Some choose to go, some are chosen.

*A knight; Mainly use of a sword and sheild, to protect other people at all costs, no matter what from.

*A witch; Uses no weapons, but uses her aspect to help the citizens in the kingdom, doing tasks normal people wouldnt be able to. If in need of combat, either summons a knight or uses aspect.

*A Theif; Excellent at spying/sneaking, a collector of information. Excellent in hand to hand combat.

*A Seer; Preist, preistess; are profound for using their seer abilities, are considered in equality of a prince/princess.

-These three roles leave their aspect kingdom at 12, and do a time of two years at the 'Alliance', which is basically a training ground for said role. Other roles such as those dealing with life and those who are Seers, have to go to an actual school, as their roles are much harder to provide. This would mean feferi is the greatest healer around, as she trained in the role of the witch and went to school for life properites.

In the role of a Seer, not anyone can be a seer, even more so than not anyone can be a witch. A seer is said to have to have specific qualities in the mind that no other role has. the kingdoms have relied on seers to predict the weather, sea tides, general future, as well as war. Although; a seer can only predict important events from a vision, a dream of the future. 

For some, after they finished school/training, instead of returning to their aspect kingdom, decide to explore other kingdoms. For example, Equius went to the Heart kingdom to stay by Nepeta. For others, the choice was not their most preferred,  and they had to compromise. ie; Dirk is in the hope kingdom to stay near Jake who is located in the doom kingdom, and is at least friends with Meenah. 

The Rage kingdom is the only kingdom that really refused to let other aspects work in their kingdom. Only Kurloz and Gamzee are there.

\- To imagine the size of this place, every city has approximately anywhere from 1000 to 3000 people, gathered within the city walls, with the castle in the center. 

* * *

MAP

-every tree represents approximately 20 trees of various sizes.

-brown lines are bridges: double lines are main bridges and much wider. single line bridges are average bridges that can fit two people side by side comfortably, or one horse.

-the castles represent the area of the entire city, not just the castle. And i dont mean exactly the border of the city, i mean like the location of it.

-If there is anything confusing/you want to know, message me and ill tell you.

I plan on making this into a full fledged story, and ive already begun on chapter two. Feedback would be nice, and i hope you enjoy the story. 

 


	2. KARKAT ==> Get down and cover

KARKAT==> RESCUE PRINCESS TEREZI

_Fuck. Everything._

His name is KARKAT VANTAS and he is a KNIGHT OF BLOOD, under the kingdom of LIGHT.

He is also currently VERY PISSED at a Seer, a noble visionary priestess.

Or, more specifically, the god damn princess.

The most annoying girl in the world.

Princess-fuck-you-I’m-a-princess-ill-do-what-I-want

Princess-I-know-what-I’m-doing-so-shut-up

Princess-justice-judges-detectives-oh-my.

Otherwise known as Terezi.

Who by the way, has currently been fucking KIDNAPPED.

He told her to be careful. Oh yes he fucking did, but did that stupid bitch listen? OF COURSE NOT. She doesn’t listen to him. No one ever listens to him.

Normally, it would be DAVE FUCKING STRIDER on this rescue mission, but he snuck out and went after her first.

Perhaps he forgot to mention.

Quite unfortunately,

And for some strange reason that he’s not quite sure of,

He is very flushed for this princess.

Perhaps it was her passion. Even through her blindness, she could do things so easily. Like it wasn’t a problem.

She was so strong, but she was so weak.

She reminded him of himself.

Okay, so he knew very well why the fuck he was flushed for her.

He just didn’t like admitting it.

The last time he admitted it, things went okay for awhile, until he fucked things up with his cursed emotions.

That god damn Dave strider, was then sent here to be lead of knights from the kingdom of TIME, and dear god does he HATE him WITH A PASSION OF A THOUSAND GREEN ALTERNIAN SUNS.

It didn’t help the fact they both had almost the same kind of red outfit, the long pants long sleeve shirt and a hooded cape, except his was darker red. Still, people got them confused and boy did it piss him off.

KARKAT==> CONTEMPLATE FEELINGS

Why was he flushed for her?

He asked himself this every day.

Why did it have to be her?

A girl that quite frankly, he knew wouldn’t return his feelings, because for fucks sake, she’s basically dating Dave Strider.

But he heard them get into a few fights the past few nights… over what, he didn’t know. He didn’t care to listen. Well, maybe a tiny part of him was interested, but anyone would be.

It was because of those arguments; it was obvious Terezi had not gotten much sleep lately.

And because of that, she was in a stubborn mood, more than usual.

And because of that, she had lead a small group of three into the woods to hunt, because she _insisted_ she was perfectly capable of taking care of herself and that she didn’t need to depend on men which was you so fuck off I’m going goodbye I’m not listening I don’t want you to come because I may or may not have feelings for you still wait what.

And then it got awkward and she left without another word.

In all honesty, he was more worried than he was angry.

His worry just came out in yells, he didn’t try to, that was just how he was.

He had told her members from the kingdom of RAGE were running around borders lately, but no. she wouldn’t listen.

And of course, she was in trouble.

He had planned to go out searching for her, but then a call came in, one of the men she had taken with her had returned, bleeding very badly. All he could stutter out was that she needed help.

He was gone in seconds.

In fact, he doesn’t even remember getting on his horse, the next thing he knew he was racing off towards the forest and now here he was, racing to find her.

How did he know the way? He was following the blood trail. It wasn’t that hard to follow a blue trail of blood through the forest.

KARKAT==> FUCKING SAVE HER ALREADY

The marks were getting larger. He patted his horse lusus, telling her to slow down.

And then he heard it. It was faint, but it still sent shivers through him.

“Honk.”

He stopped, telling lusus to stay there.

He brought out his scythe, slowly.

It would be best to remain undetected for as long as possible. After all, he didn’t technically know what he was up against, that other knight had fainted before they were able to get any information out.

Not to say Karkat wasn’t skilled in the way of the scythe, oh how he was. But he preferred strategy.

“Let me go you weirdo!”

Well, unless his flush crush was in danger.

KARKAT==> STRIFE

He took out the first two wordlessly, snatching a third at his knees. He was past the last two by the time they had seen him, and was now faced with their co-Captain.

“Kurloz”

He only smiled.

“What are members of the Rage kingdom doing around here? This is seer territory.”

But of course kurloz didn’t answer. Karkat groaned.

“Fuck this where’s Gamzee.”

Kurloz did nothing. Karkat closed his eyes and grimaced.

“You REALLY do not want to make me any more pissed off, or I swear to GOG I will rip those stitches out of your FUCKING MOUTH and then ill SLASH OFF YOUR HORNS and FUCKING STAB YOU IN THE EYES WITH THEM.”

Kurloz got the message, and surprisingly, just let him pass.

Big accident.

“KARKAT!” Gamzee had her pressed against the wall of the cave, much too close to her, smiling like a maniac.

“Drop your scythe, mother fucker.”

He was about to reply when he felt cold steel press to his head. SHIT.

Karkat vantas could do nothing but stare, horrified, angry, raging mad, sad and useless all at once.

“I said, drop it, knight.” He snarls angrily, and the gun is pressed to his head harder. Karkat did as he was told, and Kurloz picked it up. Chucking it outside the cave. Fuck.

“Gamzee…” He growled the name from his mouth.  “Let her go.”

“Naw brother, I got orders. Tasty orders.”

“I don’t know what your leader did to you, but you’re not yourself! Let her go, gamzee!”

Terezi struggled under his grip, her hands trying to grab something, anything. She tried to move her legs, but found they were on his outside, and she couldn’t kick anything more than his legs, which would do nothing for her cause. Her head. Her horns. Perhaps if she knocked him hard enough she could at least get enough room to push him away. Just as she was about to, she felt lips press to hers.

“GAMZEE!” Rage surged through him; he felt tears sting his eyes. No. He _knew_ the kind of relationship they had, why, why would he do this! “THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING GAMZEE!”

“Calm down brother. Just getting some revenge. Honk.” He let go one hand to wave. Oops.

SLAP!

She had freed her arm and whacked him across the face. He was dead surprised, and smiled at her.

“You bitch.”

He slammed her against the cave wall, the rock digging into her back, breaking skin, causing her to cry out with pain. Teal blood covered the wall, forming small puddles on the ground.  He pressed her harder as his face came close to hers.

“I will fucking RiP yOu To PiEcEs MoThErFuCkEr.” He bites her neck and she clawed against his arms, crying out in pain.

Karkats rage was only building.

What was he supposed to do?

“Terezi!”

Her red eyes looked desperately over to him, as best they could.

“Karkat…”

There was nothing he could do but comfort her.

“Yes. Just focus on me. I’m right here, okay? You’ll be alright.”

“Karkat I’m scared.” She felt hands crawl into her clothes.

“It's alright to be scared. I’m scared too.”

“The brave knight Karkat is scared…” good, she was teasing him.

“Yeah, yeah I am. And I’m sad and I’m upset and I’m really mad.”

“You’re always mad.”

“Well if I wasn’t then I wouldn’t be me, now would I?” she felt her skin grow cold as her clothes were lost.

For a brief moment she smiled. It shattered his heart.

A red tear rolled down his face.

“Karkat, are you crying? I smell salt and red.”

“What, me? No way. You’re just imagining things.” She winced slightly as she felt him claw at her skin, teal blood flowing from the large scratches on her arms.

“You know, it’s okay to cry sometimes.” he said. Teal tears fell down her face from the pain, as he continued to touch, claw and bite places no other person had touched. “Crying doesn’t make you weak. It means you love.”

“I miss you, you know.”

“Really?” He lightly smiled at that.

“Yeah.”

“I miss you too.”

“YoU MoThErFuCkErS, iM TrYiNg tO GeT SoMe rEvEnGe wOuLd yAlL ShUt tHe mOtHeRfUcK Up.”

It would be then that Karkat made his move, now that gamzee had grown frustrated and had actually backed off her unintentionally.

He sideswiped down, knocking kurloz off his feet, and darted at gamzee.

KARKAT==> PROTECT TEREZI

Gamzee grabbed Terezi, literally throwing her at Karkat, who caught her, and made his move while the knights’ hands were full. He looked around, gamzee and kurloz on either side of him, with two more of their knights blocking the entrance. Gamzee had a murderous aura coming off him, at least one of them was not going to make it out of this cave, and he knew gamzee would prefer it to be her. He wouldn’t take a trade. They wanted, needed to kill her. But he couldn’t let that happen.

Karkat pushed her to the ground, covering her with his body.

It was useless to run while Kurloz was blocking the entrance with a gun.

Gamzee himself was a master at fighting, and taking Kurloz and gamzee at once would be pointless suicide for both of them.

And so he did the first thing he could think of.

Get down, and cover her.

He closed his eyes for the waiting impact of pain that was sure to come, clutching her tightly.

The first hit was to his back, right at his spine.

He winced, gripping her tighter. She was still confused as to what just happened.

The second dose of pain came from his head. Blood dripped down the front of his face, getting into his eyes. She was yelling, screaming at him to get off, but he couldn’t hear her. He didn’t want to. He had one purpose at this moment, protect her.

“KARKAT! GET OFF, WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?”

No matter how much damage he took.

He noticed kurloz had entered the fun of his pain when the gunshot entered his shoulder. He wouldn’t shoot at his head. Not yet.

Members of the Rage kingdom were known for slow killing, whenever they could. He clenched his teeth, refusing to let out any sound.

He just had to hope that son of a bitch Dave would get here before they crushed his skull, and moved on to her.

She was struggling beneath him again, trying to free herself, but he wouldn’t let her. He knew she would retaliate like this.  

“PLEASE! KARKAT!”

The pain came in waves, increasing every time he was hit. He couldn’t tell the difference between the club and the bullets. All he felt was pain. His vision was becoming blurry and he could no longer hear her screams. Would he survive this? He didn’t want to die, but if it meant she would be safe, then so be it.

And so he filled himself with memories as to why he was enduring this in the first place.

Her annoying smile.

Her caring eyes, even if there wasn’t anything there, it was still visible.

Her pouting mouth when he refused to do her a special favor and bring her the cookies from the kitchen.

Her bright smile when he ended up getting them for her anyway.

“KAAAARKAAAAAAT!!”

Tears were raining from her eyes, her voice becoming hoarse as she shook her head, begging him to move, begging him to save himself from the pain.

The blood coming from him only scared her more, and made her more frantic. He was bleeding, hurt and bleeding and why why why wouldn’t he just move!

Suddenly, his head fell next to hers as his weight increased on her body, his rip becoming limp.

“K-Karkat…!”

“HeS kNoCkEd OuT~ dAmN”

She tried moving her arms, moving anything to get him off, but to no avail.

And so she resulted to her voice again, muffled into his neck.

“Guess that means we move onto the next one.”

“RAGE KINGDOM ASSHOLES. COME OUT OF THE CAVE. YOU HAVE TEN SECONDS BEFORE I FLIP SHIT.”

“Dave!”

Knights of Seer surrounded the cave.

Gamzee gave a shrug, and stopped. He then smiled, and began walking out, dragging his club, making a red bloody trail. Kurloz followed his leader out of the cave, confused.

Dave got off his horse and gave the men instructions. He then approached the two Rages’.

“You have ten seconds to get out of here before I personally rip out your insides and fuck up your shit.”

“WhAtEvEr MoThEr FuCkEr. WeLl Go. We DoNt WaNt To GeT iN yOuR wAy.”

Dave walked past them, entering the cave. The Rages took off. A few men shouted, but he told them to stay. They needed to take care of the princess first.

“Terezi, are you in here?”

“Dave! Help Karkat! He’s hurt badly!”

Dave lifted up Karkat; his unconscious body slumped down, making it difficult to get him off. Blood covered most of his upper body trailing down his face, puddles of his blood surrounded Terezi, staining her bare skin.

“Holy shit, the fuck happened. Where the fuck are your clothes?”

“Don’t let his back touch the ground! We need to take him back right away!”

“Tere-.”

“No!” Her teal soaked eyes both begged him and scorned him, this was what they were doing, no objections. He took off his shirt, and handed it to her.

“Very well.” after Terezi was wearing something, Dave called a few of the men to come over, helping Terezi to lift him, as a wandering HEIR of breath and his men strutted in to assess the damage.

“Whoa, what happened here? Dave!”

“John, what are you doing out in these parts.”

“One of my scouters was following the Rage Kingdom after he saw them wandering around. He followed them. He saw the attack and told me about it. I came as fast as I could, but looks like you got it done.”

“Yeah. To think, they were such a quiet weird little place. Now it’s all insane murder shit.”

“I think I might go after them. I don’t want them hurting anyone else.”

“Dave!” They both turned. Terezi was on her horse; Karkat was in front of her, her arms gently around him holding the reigns as she prepared to leave.

“Right, let’s go.”

“No. John has a point. Go with him.”

“Are you sure you’ll be alright?”

“Yes…” She looked down at him. “I don’t want anyone else getting hurt by them.” With that, she took off.

Terezi flew through the forest, her heart beating and her mind panicked.

She stared down at him, seeing his beaten form brought tears to her eyes again. He was so… broken.

 _Karkat, you dumbass! You fucking dumbass!_ She began to argue with herself.

Why would he do that!? What would cause someone like him, the non impulsive, tactic, skilled fighter to give up and just cover her? They could’ve made it out!

_Gamzee and kurloz are murderous insane skilled fighters. You wouldn’t have made it out._

Why didn’t he let her work with him! He would’ve been fine and she would’ve been fine!

_You know you wouldn’t have. They would’ve killed you both._

Why, why would he do something so stupid and reckless!?

_You know perfectly well why. He said so himself._

That image of his face came back all too clearly.

_I miss you too._

“You… stupid… ugh.”

She shook her head, clearing thoughts. He needed to get to the doctor as quickly as possible. She breathed, tightening the rains, and gaining composure, her face now determined. They neared the edge of the forest, and she finally saw home. She let go of the reigns for a second, putting her arms under Karkats, and pressed her body against his, re-grabbing the reigns. She could go faster once they were out in the open, and she needed to make sure they wouldn’t fall off.

“C’mon, Lemon snout!” She yelled, whipping the reigns with a small kick. Lemon snout was now fully galloping, and Terezi struggled to keep them both on as the horse raced across the field in a matter of seconds. When she finally saw people, she began screaming at them to look out, the townspeople creating a path as they stared at their princess, racing through the town. It was a matter of minutes when she reached the steps of the castle, bringing Lemon snout to a halt. Two soldiers at the entrance came forward, helping her off.

“Hurry, get the doctor! He’s hurt badly!”

“Where should I bring him to?”

“Take him to my room.”

“As you wish, my lady”

One of them ran off, as the other helped her get Karkat down. The rest of the soldiers arrived shortly after, getting down and coming to help.

“Whatever you do, do not touch his back side!”

Terezi and three others carried him into the castle by his front, as two others opened the doors. People inside froze as they saw the scene laying before them, maids bards and knights trying to figure out what was going on.

“Were taking him to my room, follow my lead.” She let go of Karkat as a different soldier took her place, and they rushed through the halls and up one stair, to the room of Terezi Pyrope. She opened the doors for them as they carried him in, and had them lay him down on her bed.

“Thank you for your help. You may leave now.”

“Are you sure? Will you be alright?”

“I… I’m fine. Just a few bruises.”

“Would you like something to eat?”

“Please, I’m sorry. I would like to be alone for a while. When the doctor comes, please send him here.”

“Understood.” She smiled. “Why don’t you go eat, and get some rest? Make sure the horses have plenty of hay, too.”

He nodded and left, the others following.

She sighed, and stared down at him. His face was distorted, in great pain, teeth bared and brows furrowed up, blood still over most of him. If this were any other situation, she would be hyping over his red blood, but now she couldn’t even bring herself to look at it. She was interrupted from her thoughts as her door was slammed open, a young troll rushing in.

“Oh my cod, what happened!?”

“Feferi, you can help him, cant you?”

The young witch of life began to take off his shirt, being careful not to touch. In the end she just ended up cutting it off, unable to get it around his arms without him crying out in pain. Perhaps she would’ve been able too; if Terezi didn’t cringe every time he made a noise.

“You should leave.”

“What?”

“You won’t last this. He’s going to be in a lot of pain for this, and you’ve already sea-n enough of that. You freak out every time he whines! And I don’t like sea-ing you like this. Why don’t you go wash up, you’re covered in blood too.”

She wanted to argue, but Feferi was right. It would give her some time alone and she needed to think.

…

Terezi got into the bath, the heat stinging at first, but she ignored it. Finally sitting in, she closed her eyes and just… breathed. But it wasn’t long before she was thinking of him again.

Why wouldn’t these thoughts leave her alone? An image of his smile came through once again and her heart pounded brutally.

And then she realized.

She’s flushed for him.

Dave was cool and kind and awesome, but it wasn’t the same. It was hard to explain… she just didn’t feel the same around Dave as she did with Karkat. Karkat had many flaws and made many mistakes, and yet he just keeps trying. He was so closed off to everyone, distrusting and shying away. And so when he had feelings for her, they were much stronger than normal, because he had a much larger wall around his heart. It’s not to say Dave didn’t, because he did care for her, she just wasn’t sure it was the same level of flush as it was for him.

She liked Dave, but she was flushed for Karkat.

How did that even work?

And why did it take her so long to realize it? She curled her knees up to her body.

Dave had called it off when he told her they both had feelings for someone else. She argued at first, wondering what the heck was he talking about, no she didn’t, but he frowned.

“You need to think. You’ll understand when you finally realize it.”

She had gotten little sleep that night.

But now… she finally understood. Dave could tell she still had feelings for Karkat.

She would have to thank him later, awkwardly.

Sighing, she began washing herself, finally retreating from the bath, putting on her Libra shirt and pants. When she came out of the bathroom, Feferi was standing, placing a blanket over the bandaged knight.

“Oh! I sea you’re out. Shell good. I didn’t want to leave him unorcapied.”

“Thank you, Feferi.”

“You look much better. I’m glad.”

Terezi gave a weak smile.

“Shell then. He’ll have to stay in bed for a few days, even weeks, but he should heal. Not to say without scars. His head was hit bad and caused some swelling, so it will probably cause him migraines. Here’s some medicine.” She handed Terezi two pill capsules. “The first one is for the pain, and the second is for his head.”

Terezi looked back to Karkat, as Feferi placed a hand on her shoulder. “He'll be alright, Terezi. He’ll be okay.”

She smiled again, whispering thank you’s.

“Shell, I’ll be off then! Take care of him, Terezi!”

The door closed, and everything became quiet, except for his breathing.

She sat on the chair by his bed.

“K-Karkat?”

It was silent.

Moments passed, and she felt tears sting to her eyes again, remembering the events from earlier. Today was the most she had ever cried. And she didn’t like it. She was Terezi! She didn’t cry! But… but…

“Karkat…? P-please say something…”

Silence.

“You… you fucking idiot!” She yelled at him “they could have killed you! You would have been dead for nothing! We could have gotten out of there! What if Dave hadn’t found us! You… you make it seem like you’re the only one that cares, but you’re not! What am I supposed to do if you just die on me, you ass hole!? How am I supposed to live without you when I love you!?”

She leaned into the mattress, unable to stop crying.

“This… this is all my fault… You’re in so much pain… I’m so sorry Karkat, I’m so sorry…” She cried into her arms, her breath ragged and uneven, as she tried to calm herself down. She finally stopped, exhausted, and stared at his sleeping form. At least he smelled at peace, his face was calm and undistorted. She gently took his hand and his grip tightened. She looked to his face, he wasn’t awake. She sighed and yawned, drifting to sleep.

 

Karkat woke up to the sound of shuffling. He tried to move, but in doing so he felt pain. Pain everywhere. And so he stayed still, and opened his eyes. A maid was in the room, and they locked eyes.

“Oh, oh my… you’re awake…”

“Where am I?” His voice came out rasped and forced.

“You’re in the castle darling.”

Karkat looked around to the best of his ability, freezing when he saw her at his side.

“Terezi…”

He ignored the pain and moved his other hand onto hers. Squeezing it gently.

“She’s been so worried about you. Shell be so relieved to see you awake.”

“How long…?”

“Four days. You were out good too. Originally they had you on your back because of your wounds, and yesterday the young lady said it would be alright to flip you back over, which they did, and you didn’t even flinch during any of it. My, four days. Oh dear, you must be starving. I’ll get you something in a second.”

“Thank you.”

The maid left, and he resumed his attention on her. He brought his hand up slowly, brushing her hair away from her face, to reveal her sleeping eyes. She hadn’t gotten sleep still… damn. He’d been out cold while strider probably got to cheer her up and spend time with her. Stupid bastard.

He sighed heavily, brushing his hand against her cheek. How was it she was so soft?

Her eyes opened slowly. She immediately sat up. “Karkat?”

“Hey…”

She grabbed his hand, and hugged it. “Thank Gog, you’re awake! You’ve been out for days!”

“Sorry.”

She looked away for a minute, letting go of his hand. “Is there any part of you that doesn’t hurt?”

“Well I guess most of my front-.”

WHACK! She punched him in the gut.

“OW! What the fuck did you do that for!?”

“That was for being a selfish asshole, you stupid idiot!”

“How is me protecting you being a selfish idiot! You know we couldn’t have taken them!”

“It’s because I care about you too!”

His eyes widened.

“You make it seem like sometimes, that you’ll just do anything for me, even if it gets you killed. What good will come from that? What… what if they had killed you, Karkat? What am I supposed to do without you?”

“You’re not making any sense, besides, you’ve got strider.”

“We broke it off before the attack even happened.”

“What…? But why?”

“Because somehow, he knew my feelings better than I did.”

“What does that mean?”

“its taken me six months to realize im still flushed for you, Karkat.”

His breath catches, and he coughs, a small blush in his face. He tries sitting up- bad bad idea.

“fuck! Shit.” She stands up and comes close, worried.

“you okay?”

He says nothing, but stares at her. He then places both his hands on either of her shoulders, and gives her a determined face.

“Karkat…?”

With that, he pulled her down and into him, kissing her.

To say she was surprised was an understatement, it wasn’t like him to give a kiss first. She was so happy though. She thought he might at first not-

It would be precisely then that Dave would walk in.

“Hey terezi, oh whoa.”

They split immediately, a bright blush on eithers face.

Dave only gave a thumbs up. “Glad to see you finally got the guts, shithead.”

“Fuck off, Dave!”

It would be really cool if you could tell me how i could improve character wise...


	3. KARKAT ==> PONDER

IT would be a few days before Karkat was able to walk again.

  
Currently, he was lying down in Terezi’s room; She had demanded he stay in her room, as to not hurt himself while going to his own room. Of course, her real reasoning was for him to stay with her, not that he minded. He had tried to tell her he would be fine, but of course, she wouldn’t listen to him.

  
Lately though, he was beginning he had started to form a relationship with Dave. Or rather, their relationship was slowly decreasing black to some kind of pale. He was unsure whether this was just his His imagination or not, as it was sometimes hard to tell when dave was sincere or simply joking around. But what he had certainly noticed was he really had backed off Terezi. Maybe she was right that he did like someone else… and that relieved him.

  
It was almost confusing to him how he could get along with someone like himself so well, after years of black kismesis relationship. They weren’t meant to be in a pale relationship… could they?

  
His head turned to the clicking of the doorknob.

  
“Terezi?”

  
“Hey karkles.” She smiled, and he could only roll his eyes. Of course that made her giggle, and he stared; seeing her smile like that, seeing her smile like that because of him made his entire body tense up and his heart begin to pound.

  
“Aww, is someone grumpy already this morning?”

  
“Im not grumpy.” He retaliated quickly, looking away.

  
“Oh yeah? Then smile.”

  
He turned back. “What? How the fuck is smiling supposed to prove my innocence to the so called crime of being grumpy. How is being grumpy even a crime? Please tell me in what fucking universe this invisible law was condemned to forever be applied to me?”

  
“Oh my gog karkles calm the fuck down. You can rant about things later." She paused, her smile disappearing. "There have been some…updates, on the Rage kingdom situation.”

  
His attention was immediately peaked. It had been almost two weeks since the Rage kingdom had attacked the Seer Princess, and no word had come from them since. Dave and that uber happy dork of a prince had been tracking them, but without prevail. They had seemed to simply disappear. As a result, the two had delivered the message of the Rage attack to the rest of the remaining kingdoms.

  
Rose had been visiting with a special someone in the Space kingdom, but had recently returned to deal with the matters of the Rage kingdom, after Dave had declared the news.

  
Dave on the other hand, had decided to stay within the Space kingdom. It was the last kingdom they had been to, and not being needed back at the Light kingdom right away, had decided to visit an old friend. And also because Terezi had told him to for certain reasons that he was unaware of.

  
But despite all of the commotion, no sign of the Rage kingdom had come up.

  
Until just now, it seems.

  
“They’ve been conducting some kind of ritual of some sort. Normally we would have just accepted this as the weird shenanigans of the rage kingdom, but its just… its weird karkat. Ive been having…visions. And theyre not good ones. Theyre much different than my normal readings.”

  
His eyes widened. The last time she had had a vision, she had predicted the destruction of Prospit by an unknown dark source. The attack had come so quickly too. But fortunately most of the capitol had gotten out. It wasn’t long after that the other capitol of derse had met the same fate. In all essence, terezi having a vision meant one thing.

Something really bad was about to happen. He wasn’t sure if he would be able to protect anyone from it. And that thought alone scared him.

  
“Visions? Terezi-.”

  
“You know how I accepted to have Dave stay in the Space kingdom. I believe he is right about a couple of the citizens being in danger. The thing is though, she’s not an ordinary citizen. Although she is a witch, she considers herself a knight for the Space kingdom. I believe you know her, actually. Apparently you and her used to get into quite bad fights.”

  
“Jade?”

  
“And one of the nobles as well.”

  
“Kanaya? Jane? What the hell do they need them for?”

  
“I don’t know Karkat. I just have a really bad feeling about it Karkat. A really bad feeling. And don’t think I would normally tell you this either. I just… I needed to let someone know. And so of course you would be the best.”

  
“I would be the best?” What was she thinking?

  
“What do you think of the situation?”

  
He wasn’t expecting her to ask him of anything.

  
“…well, kf the rage kingdom is going after two Sylphs, it is likely they will attack the kingdom itself directly. But I don’t think they’ll just barge right in and just attack it. No, not in the open. Otherwise they would have done it already. They want this to be kept secret. Theyre doing something they don’t want us to know about. Its likely they wont attack the other citizens, they’ll try to keep it as quiet as possible. Theyre trying to lay low.”

  
She stared at him like something had clicked.

  
“We have to go to the Space kingdom.”

  
Apparently it did.

  
“What? But why?”

  
“Not many of us. Just a few, to tail the Rage kingdom. Its very likely that your correct. I don’t know what their planning, but I need to know. I need to find out. Because if I apply your theory to my visions, it is very likely that the rage kingdom will attack and destroy most of Alternia.”

  
“What!?”

  
“Im just saying these things out loud karkat. Its what a person of law does to try and figure out the possibilities of a situation. You apply point A to point B and add in point C… and then you find a connection between them by creating theories. Its one possible conclusion. I don’t know what will happen, Karkat. I just know its not good.”

  
He looked away, processing her words. He met her eyes again. Although not as strong, she had that same look as when he had been hurt. Fear and worry.  
He sighed, crossing his arms. “Look. I know youre worried. Youre probably kind of scared too. I don’t know, after hearing all of this im pretty sure I am. But I don’t think theres really anything you can do at this point. You have dave over at the space kingdom, youre going to send a few spies to track the rage kingdom, there really isn’t anything else you can do than that.”

  
“Thanks, Karkat.”

  
He huffed. “Yeah.”

  
She smiled sincerely for a moment, before grinning and putting a small fist into the air. “Alriiiight! Weve got a plan. Its time to figure out what the rage kingdom is up to, and put them to justice!”

  
He rolled his eyes, although he was actually happy to see her energetic again. At least she wasn’t so sad anymore.

  
“Okay. Im gonna deliver the message to dave, sollux, and roxy. I have to go tell PM ill be right back!”

  
And with that she ran off, but he was sure he heard a huge bump and her yell out some curse words.

  
There was just one thing bothering him now.

  
If the rage kingdom was trying to stay low, why did they even attack Terezi?

  
What possible purpose did she have that they wanted?

  
Did they even want anything? They could have easily just taken her and run off before he had arrived.

  
But they had chosen to attack her there. Why? It didn’t make any sense.

  
IF terezi was right and they do attack the space kingdom, they would be surrounded by river.

  
IF they could get the two nearest kingdoms to surround the rivers, they would be trapped within the space kingdom. And they’d be able to capture them.

  
The only thing was, he had no idea what gamzee was up to. And leading an army to guard the river would leave the kingdoms defenseless. What if gamzee was expecting them to lead this kind of solution?

  
Then again, Terezi had said she thinks they are targeting someone within the rage kingdom.

  
Maybe he was overthinking all of this.

  
Maybe he was missing something.

  
Either way, he realized he was in the same position as Terezi. He couldn’t do anything until they learned more.

* * *

  
Dave strider was bothered.

  
Which really meant something, because things did not normally bother him. Not like this.

  
He had stayed in the space kingdom after Kanaya had felt something bad was going to happen, and he obliged.

  
That had been two days ago.

  
It would also be two days ago when he learned a knight he had trained with in the Alliance, was here, and was currently going to meet them.

  
The Alliance of Knights was a organization between knights to protect the kingdoms, protecting as many people as they could. The location itself was a major training grounds, a two year course of torturous training.

  
Okay fine it wasn’t torturous.

  
Actually It wasn’t really bad except for all the work and learning he had to do. Which he found kind of fun.

  
He had been intruiged as soon as he met her. A goofy grin upon her face, her hands on her hips, her hair in a mess, staring up at him with those green eyes…  
He had felt a weird sense of calm around her when they first met. It was calm but it was tense. He didn’t even know how to explain it to himself.  
He became more nervous about his actions.

  
But he didn’t feel pressured to do any of them without wanting to.

  
Rather ironic. But the feeling wouldn’t last long, as of course the first words out of her mouth were: “Hi! Im jade! Wanna be Tangle Buddies!? :D ” with the largest stupidest cutest fucking smile.

He had not expected that to the point where his glasses nearly fell off his face, his mouth actually somewhat agape, but inside he was exploding.

  
Needless to say she was extremely confused as he stared at her in pure shock.

  
Well what the hell was he supposed to think when someone asked to be ‘tangle buddies’!?

  
And you know what happens when a guy thinks about that stuff?

  
Its not fucking good that’s what it is.

  
Fortunately just as he was sure he’d have to run off to take a cold shower, she had begun to talk about squiddles and suddenly everything made sense. So much sense.  
He had found it strange a girl like her was training to be a knight, and so he asked.

  
In result, she challenged him to the course.

  
He got his ass beat that day harder than he would ever admit to. But he also got the coolest friend in the world.

  
After finishing training, she had left to work in the Space kingdom, and he had left back for the Time kingdom. They promised to meet up again.

  
That had been almost 5 years ago. They were twelve then.

  
You know what happens between twelve and seventeen?

  
Motherfucking puberty.

  
It wasn’t until he had reached the Space kingdom, that he had even realized she was going to look different.

  
Much different.

  
He was now currently walking down the street of the central market, towards the castle, his heart racing. Today was going to be interesting.

  
“DAAAAVE!” 

Oh shit.

She was sprinting towards him, her breathing heavy as the heavy footsteps stopped right in front of him.

  
“Hey Jade.”

Thank god he had his shades on. He had closed his eyes suddenly for some reason, perhaps nervous of seeing what she looked like now.

  
As he heard her run up to him, he suddenly realized, this was Jade he was talking about. She was a silly goofy dork. And even if she did have some growth, I mean, she would still look like the goof she is.

  
When he opened his eyes the first thing he saw was green emeralds. What the f-oh. Her eyes you idiot those are her eyes. Wait what!?

  
“HI Dave!”

  
His brain froze.

  
 _Say hi you fucking idiot youre embarrassing the shit out of yourself._

  
“Hey Harley.”

  
She beamed, buck teeth visible as ever. He relaxed.

  
Little did he know, Jade was having much of the same problem.

  
She had been worried about her appearance for days. She knew it wasn’t really that important but… after what Karkat had said to her she lost her confidence. She hadn’t even really cared about appearance until he had… and the worst part was, she didn’t even care about his opinion! But the fact someone had said it to her…

  
She knew she wasn’t the prettiest girl. Usually she didn’t care. So why did she care around him?

  
Duh. Of course she knew.

  
“What are you doing here?” She asked, getting her mind off the subject.

  
“I came to deliver some news and decided to stick around i guess.”

  
“Oh? What for?”

  
He began walking towards the castle, and jade followed next to him, staring up at his face.

  
“To say hi to some people.” Conceal don’t feel.

  
“…anyone in particular?”

  
He glanced at her through his shades.

  
“Of course. In fact shes nearby right now.”

  
Jade smirked. “She is?”

  
“mhmm.” He nodded.

  
“And whats she like?”

  
“Well shes cheery, funny, a close friend, and her name rhymes with Maid.”

  
“ITS MEEE!” She squealed, a huge smile on her face.

  
“What? Naaaaaaw. Your name doesn’t rhyme with maid.”

  
“What! Yes it does!!!!”

  
“No it doesn’t.”

  
“Yes it does!”

"Bullshit."

  
“Yes huh! Its Jade, JAAAADE which rhymes with MAAAAAID” she shouted in frustration.

  
“What? No way, I was sure it rhymed with princess or cool or badass”

  
“…?”

  
“Youre more similar to all of those things.”

  
Jade smiled a little before kicking him.

  
“Ow. You’ve wounded me. How could you.”

  
“Smartass.”

  
“Jade I trusted you and you’ve hurt me.” Dave fell dramatically on her and she began to laugh.

  
“What are you doing idiot!”

  
“You’ve injured my leg and now it hurts to walk jade what have you done do you see the damage you’ve caused” He leaned on her further so much, that she was pushed to the side."

  
She laughed out his name “DAAAAAVE”

  
“Jade its your own fault I have to rely on you for assistance youre the one that inflicted pain on me you cruel human I thought we were friends why would you do this to me.”

  
In retaliation Jade pushed back and he smiled. “How dare you push an injured citizen what kind of knight are you."

"A better one than you!"

"If youre the knight then what does that make me"

"Obviously  _youre_ the princess. An ironic princess."

"That is the best fucking title ever."

"And im the hero! its me." She said, heading up the palace steps (to which theyd finally arrived to) and struck a heroic pose.

"Wait what"

"When those stupid attackers come to get you, ill come to save you manly ironic princess dave strider!"

He wasnt sure whether to laugh or not.

Fortunately they were interuppted by another girl.

"Hey guys. Long time no see."

"Jane!" Jade shouted, and hugged her tightly.

"Oh! Good to see you too, Jade. You were meeting with the alliance, werent you?"

"Not yet, theyre going to be having a meeting soon, i was meeting with one of the other knights. After i heard the news about the rage attack though..."

"Dave, you were there werent you?" Jane asked.

They both looked to him expectant.

"Uh... not exactly. Why?"

"Is she okay?" 

"Yeah. Karkat was the one who got most of the damage."

"That fuckass!" Jade shouted. "I bet he just rushed in there without any back up!"

He shrugged."Yeah pretty much."

Jane lead them both into the palace before commenting,

"So why didnt you return to the Light kingdom?"

"...i didnt want to."

"But shouldnt you be with Terezi?" 

Jade had asked the question this time. That was right, she didnt know.

"Well uh... shes with karkat so..."

"But arent you dating her?"

"...no."

Jane looked around. "I....i think im gonna go this way. It was nice seeing you ill see you later." And she hurried away before either of them could respond.

They were both quiet as they walked to the knights quarters.

"Dave! Jade!"

"hm."

"Hi kanaya!!!!!!"

She looked troubled. "I...uh... made a mistake."

They stared.

"I may or may not have... accidentally let roxy use one of the spare knight rooms to practice her void powers..."

uh oh.

"And she kind of destroyed it with generic cubes."

"How do-." He started.

"Dont even ask." She put a hand up, not wanting to explain it further.

"What does this mean then?"

She tried making a straight face. "Well... You and jade are going to have to share a room while you stay here."

Jade clapped her hands. "Itll be just like a slumber party! This is gonna be so cool!"

Wait...

WHAT!?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The only way i remember to update something is if i get reviews... otherwise i dont think people are interested? eheh... i have a reeeeeeeeeeally bad memory.


	4. ARADIA ==> Sneak

ARADIA MEGIDO ==> Rebel.

Aradia Megido was sick of her older sister.

Yes she was caring but hell... was she overly protective. Half the time she didnt care, half the time she cared too much.

It was like she only cared when Aradia did something wrong.

Sure she was there for her birthday but...

She wanted more support than that.

Even if it was just a little.

Saying something like, 'Good job on your aspect training today', instead of sighing and dismissing her.

Or joining her for lunch instead of hanging all over one of her servant men.

Or going on an adventure, like they used to...

They used to do lots of things together.

Go on picnics, paint things, study oriental culture...

She used to dream sailing across the seas to the culture she was so fascinated with, she loved its history, its art, its design...

She used to be passionate about things. About romance, and about the world.

It was when she had gone for her witch training that she'd changed so much.

Damara had become so cold... what seemed like for no reason at all.

They were so far apart now. And Damara was becoming more and more distantly controlling. 

Now, since the attack on Terezi, Damara had ordered her to be locked into the castle... she felt like nothing other than a caged bird.

While Damara on the other hand, left often, doing who knows what, and yet had her little sister locked in?

Aradia had tried asking why, left with only excuses 'its for your own good' and 'because i said so.'

Yeah, she'd had enough.

She needed to see Sollux. The last time they had spoken was almost a few weeks ago, and they had had a fight. If... something was about to go down, she needed to make it up with him. She needed to see him.

"Aradia!"

Look who it was.

"Yes, oh sister?" The sarcasm strong in her voice.

"Have you finished with your time studies."

"Cant you just call it 'history' like normal people." She rolled her eyes.

Darmaras voice turned stern. "This is apart of your job. You have to study how history was written so that you can take your place from me and write the new history. We are the time kingdom, thats what we do."

She huffed, crossing her arms. "...Maybe i dont want to take over for you."

"Excuse me?"

"i didnt ask for this! I dont want to be a history writer, i want to explore!"

"Aradia, dont be stupid. You need to stop with this... pretend. You need to grow up."

Now THAT had pissed her off. That had also been a few hours ago, and now it had turned night.

And so currently, she was tiptoeing her way down the dark hallway, trying to avoid making any sound.

Aradia had never (purposely) disobeyed her sister before. Well, not like this.

She'd never thought sneaking out would be so exciting. It was just like so many of the adventures she heard about, and this time, she'd get to have her own.

A new found smile on her face, she kept on.

Once she got to the stairs she went a little faster, knowing her sister wouldnt be able to hear her anymore.

She rounded the corner, down another flight of stairs, to the back door and-

"Well well, where are you going this time of night?"

Instantly lights flicked on.

Aranea sat on a nearby stool, her regular book in hand.

Aradia cringed, turning around slowly.

"A-A-Aranea, i was just..."

"Worried about someone in particular are we? hmmmm?" She pried, putting on a smile.

Aradia had a slight blush, avoiding eye contact.

"As i thought." The book closed.

She looked side to side, unsure what to do. Aranea was simply writing something down, the smile yet to leave her face.

Her eyes drifted back up to the spider girl.

"...Are you going to tell on me?"

"Of course not."

"Huh?"

"I will lead Damara off course, if you can do me one small favor."

She became hesitant. "And what is that?"

Aranea folded up the piece of paper she'd been writing on, and tied it with a string.

"I need you to deliver this to the hope kingdom. Its close to the Doom kingdom, so it shouldnt be too much of course. Do you think you can do that for me?"

Her eyes lit up, excited for a real quest. "You can count on me!"

Aranea laughed, handing over the letter to the girl. 

"Ah, i almost forgot."

"?"

She grabbed a few things from the counter. Handing a parcel to the Time princess, she threw a cape around her back, and kneeled down to tie it around her neck.

"Theres some food and a map in there. Now, I know you know how to get there, but there are some alternate routes in case something happens, okay?" She finished, standing back up.

"Okay."

"Youre a brave girl, Aradia. Good luck, youll be fine."

With that, she turned around, going back to her book.

"Aranea..."

"Hmm?" She looked over her shoulder.

"Thank you." With that, Aradia ran out the door.

She refused to turn back for any reason, she trusted Aranea but Damara very well could have been woken up by their conversation.

There was no way she was going back into that castle just to be locked up again!

A chilled wind made her slow, and she realized just how cold it was. She mentally thanked Damara for the coat as she took off into the night.

Aranea smiled...whispering to no one but the air.

"Your move..."

* * *

DAVE STRIDER==>  Contemplate your situation.

How the fuck did this happen.

How the fuck did this happen...

Oh, right, because fucking roxy destroyed half the fucking extra rooms and now he was stuck in a room with Jade Harley.

Kanaya had apologized profusely, but apart of him was convinced she'd done it on purpose.

And if not her, then definitely Roxy and Rose.

He could just see Rose's smirking face now when she asked about it...

Not that there was anything to complain about, oh no, but the way his heart was beating was making it very hard to sleep.

Jade Harley didnt know it, but she'd made many of his nights hard to sleep, without even being there.

And no, it wasnt for the dirty reasons.

....

well, most of the time.

So what if sometimes he thought about her in  _that_  kind of way.

He was attracted to her. He'd admit that.

...to himself.

Most nights, He'd think about her in other kinds of ways.

The way her laugh sent tingles into his head and made him smile...

The way her smile could make a rainy day seem like the sun was shining brightly...

The way she could kick ass without even really trying.

She was sweet but she was strong. She was kind but she was tough.

She wasnt afraid to show what she was feeling.

She didnt need a mask to hide herself.

She didnt need sunglasses.

She could just be...Jade.

He stared up at the ceiling, sighing.

Did she ever think about him at 3 am like this?

He turned, looking at her sleeping.

While he was caught up in his thoughts, Jade on the other hand seemed to be sleeping soundly, occasional sighs coming from her bed as she turned over.

He almost wished he had the naievety of her, treating this just as it was- nothing in particular.

They were just sharing a room, out of inconvienience, not on purpose.

I mean, they weren't even in the same bed or anything.

They were just sleeping.

In the same room.

Yeah.

...

_OH MY GOD THEY WERE PRACTICALLY FUCKING WHAT PERSON DOESNT THINK WHEN THEY SEE A MAN AND A WOMAN IN THE SAME ROOM THAT THEY ARENT TOGETHER well then again i mean there are girls and guys that are doing it but no one really suspects them DAVE THAT DOESNT COUNT EVERYONE KNOWS YOURE NOT A HOMOSEXUAL AND NEITHER IS HARLEY yeah but you are just friends its not like anything is going on DAVE NO EVERYONE PRACTICALLY KNOWS YOU HAVE A CRUSH ON HER bullshit you havent actually told anyone EVERYONE KNOWS ITS SO OBVIOUS..._

Dave would get little sleep tonight, and not for the reason he wanted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i dont think ive ever updated this quickly before my brain just kinda pllllllltttttttt most of the time


End file.
